On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1)

by Mark Harritt

  The net grew quiet, and then Tom, the hunter, started speaking, “Well, when you have dragon lizards the size of a school bus, and a pack of . . . friggin’ bears, for God’s sake, there has to be something that they can feed on. Small animals won’t do, they need a lot of protein, and they have to have it pretty damn often.”

  Rob spoke, “That means that there are a lot of large animals in this world that can kill us?”

  Tom followed up, “Uh huh, and most of them aren’t going to be happy to see us. Or, they will be happy to see us as a new protein source.”

  Mike asked, “Any suggestions about the future?”

  Everett started the round, “.338 Lapua.”

  Mickey said, “.50 BMG.”

  Rob threw in, “.50 Smith and Wesson.”

  Tom chuckled, “Nope, you’re all under caliber on this one. You need a 750 grain bullet at 2700 feet per second. You need the A Square Hannibal .577 Tyrannosaur. Made to stop rhinos, hippopotami, and rogue elephants; guaranteed to stop a charging T.Rex, if you can find one that’s alive.”

  “Does that actually exist?” Mike asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Tom answered, “I have a montage video on my laptop of people shooting the thing.”

  Rob asked, “Have you ever shot one?”

  “No, but I did some work on a .500 nitro express that a fella was taking to Africa on safari. He was going after rhinos, and he bought a double barreled Anderson Wheeler .500 Nitro Express second hand for $23,000 and wanted to make sure all the parts were working correctly, when his life was on the line.”

  That conversation continued for the better part of thirty minutes. They talked about the energy imparted into the kill in foot pounds for each of the different calibers, which caliber was more accurate with which rifle. The conversation could continue for hours. The team was familiar with all of the weapons that they used. Tom was the expert, though. He was a hunter, hand loading all of his ammunition to ensure the perfect cartridge for his rifle. He grew up shooting his dad’s Winchester .30-06, and then moved onto his own Remington .308. Sniper school brought out the quest for knowledge, and now he knew every weapon out there that he might face across a thousand yards. He had also attended gun smith school in Pennsylvania, and gotten his degree. Tom knew everything there was to know about guns and ballistics, or knew where to find it.

  The team was always like this when they expected trouble. It came from spending too much time in the danger zone. Mike watched this same banter among many men he worked with over the years, in the Rangers, Special Forces, and black ops. It was the calm before the storm. They were relaxed, but paying attention to business. As they talked, they monitored the situation with the bear pack. They all knew that it was going to hit the fan, or at least they assumed it would. They just didn’t know when. The killing would start as soon as the meat was gone, and the bear pack back tracked the blood trail. There was always the chance that it wouldn’t happen, but better to be prepared if it did. The banter continued. It would have continued if they were stark naked, with bare hands, facing the bear pack. It just wouldn’t have lasted as long.

  Then Mike got the call, and the entire team tuned in. It was Mitchem, but he could hear Jamison squealing in the background. “You bastard, you get out of that armor right now and come down here and face me!”

  Mike clicked on the mic, “We did that already, you lost, remember.”

  “Screw you, get out here, I’m placing you under arrest, you jackass. And I’m going to arrest your entire team!” Mitchem was truly spitting mad, a term Mike had heard before, but never thought he would experience. He could hear the saliva gathering in Mitchem’s mouth as he spoke on the radio. He could imagine the spit flying as Mitchem talked.

  Everett spoke up on a different channel, one that only the team was monitoring.

  “Hey boss, Mitchem is attracting some attention.”

  Mike thought about this. It was completely dark now. Mitchem probably couldn’t even see the bear pack that was fighting over the meat. Mike watched as one, two, three of the big bears started looking over towards the cave.

  Mike spoke up over comms to Pang, “Jennifer, are you out there?”

  Mitchem was the one who answered, “She isn’t allowed to talk to you now. I’m in charge here. You’ll talk to me!”

  Mike voice was calm. “Listen, you’re about to step into a world of pain. Lieutenant Pang understands the security situation, you don’t. Put her back on the radio.”

  Mike was familiar with swearing in eleven languages, usually hearing it before he killed someone. He could imagine the color of Mitchem’s face as he cursed. It would have been amusing if not so tiresome. Mitchem was a turd.

  “Mitchem, put Jennifer Pang back on the radio, or I’m switching to speaker, and everyone will hear.”

  This was not what Mike wanted. He knew it would attract the attention of the bear pack, and what happened next would not be pretty at all. Now, seven of the bear pack were looking over at the cave at the little man yelling among the tall, black figures. One tentatively started moving towards the cave, sniffing the air, stopping to lick at the blood on the ground.

  “I don’t care if you’re on speaker or radio. It’s not going to save you now,” Mitchem was yelling at the top of his voice.

  The one bear moved towards the cave with intent.

  Mike flipped the switch. He was now talking through the speakers on the armor, not on the radio, “Lieutenant Pang, prepare for attack. The bear pack is coming. We’ll try to intercept, but you’ll need to kill anything that gets pasts us.”

  That was all it took. Mike’s voice opened the dam. The pack surged towards the cave, anticipating new prey. There was a shriek over the microphone. Mike assumed that the bear pack was now in view of the people in the cave. The bear pack swarmed. Mike and his team fired with laser and rail guns. Blood flew, the bears not near as tough at as the dragon. The rail guns wounded and killed the bears, but they kept coming. Then it was hand to hand. The bears were startled as the five mech armor suits came alive and started pounding them. They were smaller than the dragon lizard that attacked previously, but they were faster, more agile, making it harder for Mike and his team to stop them.

  The bears were confused by the armor. They bit, clawed, slammed into it, and tried to crush it with blows from their huge paws. Nothing the large bears tried caused any damage. A few made it through to the cave and tried to find easier targets. Mike grabbed one by the leg and pulled it back out to pummel it until its head was mush.

  Pang initiated the defense in the cave. She sprinted forward to get past Mitchem and his crew to keep them out of the line of fire. She didn’t notice, since she was eager to get into the fight, but the security team was standing flat footed, looks of disbelief at the size and amount of the bears on their faces. She opened up with her shotgun and started pumping rounds into the hugely muscled, snarling beasts. She was dwarfed by the sheer size of the great animals. But she stood and killed, no fear as she snarled curses.

  Jamison’smouth was slack with dismay. His heart jumped into his mouth, and the only sound that came out was a muted, strangled cry. When Pang’s shotgun spoke, he squealed, then turned and ran. The sound of her shotgun broke the inactivity of the security team, as they realized the danger. The rest of the security team started shooting, some with rifles, the rest with their pistols. Stein was grabbed by Mitchem as he was setting up the security. When Mike announced the bear attack, he ran forward, also in the mix, slaying bears on the other side of the security team. Spent shell casings flew through the air as he shot.

  Three of the bears broke through the Mech team. One was grabbed by a leg and drug back out of the cave, its head pounded into pulp. One was riddled with bullets and dropped just past the cave opening. The last one made it through to the team,covered in blood, horrendous wounds weeping fountains of blood. Even as it died, it lashed out with one of its great paws, crushingAirman Babcock. Babcock flew across the ground, chest caved in by the blo
w, skin and flesh rended by claw. Blood streamed from his body as the bear corpse crashed against the floor. The large bear shuddered as death took it.

  A pile of dead bears surrounded the mouth of the cave. Two of the bears were gravely wounded, in immense pain, crawling back towards the trees, blood gushing to create a huge blood trail. Judging from the other animals in the area, Mike didn’t think they had a very good chance to live. Mike took pity on the two wounded animals. He targeted the backs of the head of each animal, and triggered his rail gun until each stopped moving. The rest of the pack lay on the ground, dead and dying.

  Mike checked his display and looked at the camera feed into the cave. Pang was standing, shotgun smoking. The security personnel around her were reeling from the attack.Mike spoke over the speaker, “Lieutenant Pang, I need an ACE report.”

  “Ah, ACE report?” she asked.

  Mike could imagine her confusion, “yes, a status report. ACE, ammunition, casualties, equipment damaged.”

  A look of understanding came over her face. She remembered from the fight with the dragon. She turned and interrogated each person, and then noticed the young airman’s body lying on the floor, “Oh, God.”

  Mike asked, “What’s going on?”

  Pang answered, “One of our Airmen is down. I think he’s dying.”

  Two of the security team ran forward to help Babcock.

  Mike spoke again, “Jennifer, I’m coming out. Mickey come with me, security has a wounded man. Everett, you Tom and Rob stand guard.”

  Jennifer turned and started talking to the security team. Emotions were running high. Many of the security personnel were upset as they talked to the lieutenant. Murphy was pointing back to the cave tunnel, and yelling. Mike turned up his audio to catch what Murphy was saying.

  “Those bastards left us! Mitchem left us! He didn’t even look back to see if we were still alive or being eaten by those big damn bears! Screw him! If Mitchem won’t even stand like a man with us, then he can go to hell.”

  Mickey set the mech armor into standby, popped the hatch, and climbed down with his medic bag to check out the casualty.

  Mike saw Jondreau there, looking shaken. Mike didn’t know if it was because of the attack, the attitude of the security team, or because of Mitchem abandoning them. Mike set the armor in position, felt the foam collapse, and then popped the hatch. Mike yelled down to the security team, “Do you mind if I come down and talk to you?”

  The team still looked visibly upset. Murphy spoke up, most of his emotion spent. He had a very pissed off expression on his face, “Nah man, you can come down. We won’t do nothin’.” Jondreau looked as if he was going to say something, but Murphy and Pang both glared at him and he shut his mouth.

  Mike got back on the radio to his team, “Gents, I’m going out to do some talking. Stay alert. Everett, we need a shift for guard duty. One person in the armor at all hours for guard duty. I hope we’ve seen the worst of it for tonight.”

  “Yeah, me too. I’ll make sure everything is copacetic.”

  Mike climbed down, with his pistol, rifle, and tactical kit. He yelled over to Mickey, to see what was up with the condition of the Airman. All Mickey did was shake his head in the negative. The Airman was dead.

  He walked over to the Air Force security team. “Gentlemen, I thank you. If you hadn’t helped us, that bear pack would be hunting our people through the facility.”

  Murphy had a dangerous look in his eyes. Mike could see Rob Stein in the background. Mike asked, “Did Airman Stein come to talk to you?”

  Murphy nodded, “And Mitchem and Jamison lost their minds when he said you were looking for security to secure the mouth of the cave.”

  Mike spread his hands, “Well, I can understand that, but it wasn’t just me. Lieutenant Pang knew there was a need for security. Both she and I asked Airman Stein to come and get you.”

  Lieutenant Pang nodded, “Yes, you saw the size of those beasts. One bear is bad enough, but a pack of Kodiak bears was more than I could handle. If they got past Mike and his team in the mech armor, I wouldn’t be able to stop them.”

  Mike continued, “My team will do everything we can to protect everyone, but we can’t do it by ourselves.” He motioned, indicating everybody in the cave, “We are the only thing between the people we work with, and the horrors that want to kill them.” He paused to let this truth set in.

  Jondreau, with a serious expression, asked, “What about Mitchem, Jamison?

  Mike shrugged, “Well, now you know what they’d do in battle. So you have a choice, follow a leader that has proven herself in battle with nightmarish, vicious predators, or follow the man that soiled himself and ran away to leave you to die. Your choice.”

  Mike looked at Lieutenant Pang. He was impressed with her courage. Hell, she faced the bear pack, and she didn’t have armor, “Lieutenant Pang, could you come with me please?” He walked over to one of the corpses of the bears. He motioned for her to stand next to it. The head of the bear was as large as her torso.

  “Look at this woman. She would be a snack for this beast. Where was she when the pack swarmed the cave?”

  Murphy spoke, “Man, if she hadn’t been there, they would have killed us all. She ran in front of us, and started shooting. She was fearless.” He looked over at skinny Robert Stein, “Him too. He ran forward and started shooting before we even knew we were in trouble.”

  The security team was impressed with Lieutenant Pang. Pang proved that you don’t need to be physically imposing to lead men into battle. An effective leader did need physical courage, and she was ton of courage in a ninety-five pound package.

  Mike asked, “Who do you want to lead you in battle?” He pointed at the tunnel, “Them,” then he put his hand on Jennifer’s shoulder, “or her?”

  The security team was thinking, their faces open books. Only Lieutenant Jondreau seemed unconvinced. “What about you? Are you in charge here?” Murphy, and everyone else in the cave looked interested in what Mike had to say.

  Mike shook his head, “No, not at all. I’m in charge of my team. I want to make sure that all of us have a decent chance at waking up tomorrow. We need to find out what the hell is going on here. The world we know is gone, and it has been replaced by this world. I want to make sure, if it is remotely possible, we all return back to the world that we know. I think you know that Mitchem and Jamison can’t do that for us.”

  Murphy thought, then slowly nodded. Murphy seemed satisfied with Mike’s answer. Lieutenant Jondreau didn’t look as convinced as Murphy. Pang didn’t say anything, hoping things would sort themselves out. She was just happy that there wasn’t going to be an armed insurrection right now.

  Mike watched Lieutenant Jondreau. He was impressed that Jondreau didn’t run. This spoke well for him as a leader. Hell, even the fact that he was backing his boss, Mitchem, spoke well for him. Problem was, Mitchem was a pile of manure that needed to be scraped off the shoe. These young warriors didn’t fail Mitchem, but Mitchem sure failed them.

  Mike heard someone say ‘Ditchem’ Mitchem. He knew that nickname would make the rounds of the civilians and Air Force pretty quickly. It was catchy. It would stick. It was the type of thing that a leader dreaded. Mike knew that, soon, all the Airmen would be calling him that. Mike dialed back his military persona, and smiled, turning on the charm, “Okay, this is what we need. My team’s going to stay on guard up here, one person at a time in the mech armor, with the drone up, and all sensors on to watch the surrounding area. If there’s an attack, we can armor up pretty quick. So, I need some volunteers to guard my men as they sleep.”

  Pang, Jondreau, and Murphy moved together and started talking. It didn’t take long to reach a consensus. Jondreau was the person to announce the decision.

  Lieutenant Jondreau walked over to Mike and stuck out his hand. Mike reached over and held his hand in a firm grip. Mike could see the apology in Jondreau’s eyes. Jondreau spoke, “Chief Duggins, since I’m in charge of security for
this facility, I’ll put together a list for guards to come up here and stand watch. How many men do you need?”

  Mike nodded acceptance, “Well, two would be good for us. Plus, we have some cots on our pallet for sleep. If you could have two on guard, then two in cots to relieve them as needed, that would be perfect. I’ll let you decide the shifts. My guys are doing two hour shifts to stay alert up here.”

  Murphy moved forward with Joseph, “Ah, Chief, Lieutenant, if you don’t mind, we’ll take the first shift up here.”

  Mike indicated that this was acceptable, and Jondreau looked relieved to have someone in place immediately. Jondreau gathered his security team, and started towards the tunnel to walk back to the facility. Pang stuck around a little bit longer. Mike motioned her over, “Jennifer, could you please send up our cots, our sleeping bags, and some MREs? Two boxes should be enough for now. We’ll make sure that our guards get something to eat.”

  Pang nodded, “Yeah, Stein can stay, and I’ll send up one of the administrators. They can be your security backups for Murphy and Joseph. I’ll get the cots and supplies up to you as well.”

  Pang shifted her eyes to Murphy as she talked, without Murphy seeing her do it. Mike understood immediately. It would be awhile before Mike completely trusted the security team. It seemed that Pang didn’t completely trust them either. With Stein and another one of Pang’s people, they could put Murphy and Joseph on separate shifts. Mike winked so that neither Murphy nor Joseph saw it. Pang nodded, knowing that Mike had insight to what she was thinking.

  Mike stepped close to her, “Jennifer, we have a few body bags on the pallet. You’ll need to send up one for Babcock. Sadness shaded her eyes deeply, exhaustion lining her face. She nodded. Mike felt her pain, and put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed, “If you need to talk about it, I’m here, the team is here. We’ve all experienced the loss of friends on the battlefield.”

  She nodded, “I didn’t really know Airman Babcock. He seemed like a nice guy.” Tears welled up. Mike knew there was nothing he could do to help her now. She would have to work through this. He knew that the others on the security team would have the same problem. Pang inhaled deeply. She turned, then walked over to Murphy and Joseph, and asked both of them if they needed anything sent up. They said they needed some more 5.56mm for the rifles. She walked past them to the tunnel.